New Mexico Personal Injury Law Firm.

A personal injury law firm doesn’t have to be bigger. Just smarter.

Our focus at the Davis Law Firm is the negotiation and litigation of personal injury or “tort” cases.

A “tort,” beyond being a tasty pastry, is a civil wrong for which there must be a remedy, usually in the form of money damages. Thus, personal injury attorneys are commonly known as ‘tort’ attorneys. We fight for your rights when you are the victim of a civil wrong, and/or are injured due to the recklessness or negligence of another.

The Davis Law Firm takes this a step further by, wholeheartedly, believing that not only should you receive fair compensation, but the wrongdoer should also be punished to set an example. As a determined New Mexico personal injury attorney, Ben Davis hopes this will deter others from making the same mistakes.

Sometimes we can even help get laws changed to help prevent future injury or loss to others.

Type of tort law (a.k.a. what counts as a personal injury)

As you might have guessed, one of the main goals of tort law is to ensure that people who have assumed some duty in regard to others do not waver in effecting the same. In other words- personal injury cases often define social responsibility, and are one of the few ways to seek remedial help when a person unintentionally, but negligently, injures you. Unlike criminal law (which usually requires some intent on the part of a defendant) tort litigation punishes those who both intend to hurt you, and those who don’t, but who still should be held accountable for the damage they caused.

The most common areas pursued in a New Mexico personal injury lawsuit:

The largest category, by far, is “negligence,” which encompasses most types of unintentional accidents, malpractice, attacks, and premise liability. This category is constantly growing as science and technology bring about more knowledge of the world around us and the causes of harm. Thus, producers of seemingly safe prescription medication that cases cancer or birth defects might later be held liable when these connections are scientifically recognized.

Why would you pursue a New Mexico personal injury case?

As you can see, sometimes it is more a twist of fate than anyone’s intent that causes the filing of a lot of personal injury lawsuits. Because of this many people who have never been injured see such suits as a means for lazy people to manipulate the law into personal profit. The sad thing is, however, that most injured victims try to cope with their own pain first, before encountering the sheer weight of cost that is modern medical treatment. Similarly, those who do not carry sufficient medical coverage often end up paying thousands of dollars out of pocket to repair their bodies and vehicles.

So the question is, is this fair?

No one usually plans an accident but the sad fact is they often result from the actions of one of the participants involved, whether they are corporations, people or animals. Because of this, American law courts have since focused their inception on the concept that the costs of an injury should not fall to the innocent party where the negligent party can be readily identified. This is only fair, as the suffering and economic loss suffered by the injured person is essentially spread out amongst all those responsible.

Damages that can be recovered from personal injury:

There are common areas of recovery in most cases, such as the costs of medical expenses, some monetary compensation for the person’s pain and suffering. Other damages depend on what kind of injury you or your loved ones have suffered as a result of the other person’s actions.

Payments for permanent impairments, disabilities or losses of function

Loss of enjoyment of life (where applicable)

Attorney’s Fees

Loss of Spousal or Filial Consortium

Punitive Damages

To go into the specifics and applicability of each of these categories on an introductory page would be madness, but the bottom line is the “common areas” and “secondary areas” both require proof, and are applicable only insofar as the law allows.

What if the injured person caused their own injury? Shouldn’t the costs then fall to them?

Although this is a complicated area of the law, the ultimate answer is yes, the costs do fall to injured victims who fail to prove that they did not do something to individually cause their own injury.

There are legal doctrines that will reduce an injury victim’s recovery in accordance with their fault for the accident, such as when a person slips and falls due to both their own clumsiness and the spilled oil in the isle. In such cases the jury decides what duty the injured victim owed to the defendant to stay vigilant at the time of the accident, seek immediate treatment, or in some other way try to prevent exorbitant costs caused by the accident.

There are also some activities that courts have found to be “inherently dangerous” and whose participants know, or should have known, were dangerous before taking part. This is why skydiving companies will often be allowed to provide you with what is called a release of liability prior to your participation. When you sign such a release, essentially you are saying “I know that this is dangerous, and I’m choosing to participate anyway.”

Why hire a Mew Mexico personal injury attorney?

Personal injury tort doctrines are constantly changing with the times. Fifty years ago a person’s fault in suffering an injury was a complete bar to recovery, which could prove devastating for a person who suffered an injury that was say, 5% their fault and 95% someone else’s. This law changed and so did the way that personal injury lawyers handled their cases. We at the Davis Law Firm are at the forefront of our field in seeking out and applying the most recent decisions in favor of the injured victims we represent.

People hire many different kinds of lawyers for many different reasons. If you, or a family member, have been injured by the actions of someone else you need a New Mexico personal injury lawyer who knows tort law, and who handles injury cases. Here at the Davis Law Firm we specialize in injury cases, and are always vigilant in staying up-to-date on all areas of law that could affect your case. Now it’s up to you to do your part- make sure that your rights are protected by calling us for a free preliminary discussion of your rights and possible representation in your case.